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Currie S

A mutton curry made with butter, milk curds, spices, onions, and coriander.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and cinnamon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Currie S

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Grind the spices and other ingredients into a paste.

  2. Wash the mutton well and rub it with the paste.

  3. Mix in the butter and milk curds.

  4. Add the salt, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, and sliced onions.

Cook

  1. Place the mixture in a covered pot over low heat, stirring occasionally until the gravy is absorbed and the meat is browned.

  2. If softer meat is desired, add 2 pints of cold water and simmer until absorbed.

  3. Alternatively, simmer the mutton in water until tender before adding the paste.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Clove + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  2. Cinnamon + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,299 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Clove + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,114 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Cardamom + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,114 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mutton
Provides the main protein; slow cooking over low heat tenderises the meat and lets it absorb the gravy.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying the spice flavours and helping the meat brown.
Milk curds
Adds creamy body to the gravy and a mild tang as it cooks down.
Onions
Break down during slow cooking to add sweetness and thicken the gravy.
Garlic
Contributes sharp, aromatic pungency that deepens as it cooks.

The step that matters

Cooking the mixture over low heat until the gravy is absorbed. Low, covered heat lets the meat tenderise without the paste scorching, while stirring keeps the spices and onions from catching. Rushing with high heat can burn the sugars and leave the meat tough and the gravy bitter.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (mutton, butter, milk, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Sweet potatofits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, butter, milk, clove, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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